Poems for challenging times

From Jeff:

The last few weeks have been very difficult. I’m a liberal American, a privileged white guy whose path has been set out for him, and my journey has been easy in this life. I want what I’ve had for everyone else in America, and I want my son to be a better and more successful and caring person than I am.

And then it all comes crashing down when you hear the innocent cries of children separated from their moms. And it’s being done in our name, in my name.

It is a dark night of the soul to be sure.

When I despair, I turn to my notebook which I’ve filled with a collection of reflective poems, quotes and other bits of thoughts. I’ve attached some of them for you to share. Next, I look at pictures of monuments to the people who built the world we live in now…Lincoln Memorial for instance…so that I can remind myself that things have been worse and we’ve recovered as a people. And then I think of the earth, our blue-green marbled jewel hanging in a sunbeam, and I think of Carl Sagan’s Pale Blue Dot, and I reflect on the fact that no one is coming to help us, we’re all alone on space ship earth flying through the cosmos, and it’s on us to live amongst one another, and love one another, and take the next step in humanity together and leave the world a better place than we found it.

Strangely, I next think of the Voyager probes in space. I think about how they testify to our existence, our ingenuity, our curiosity and basic decency, and always will, even if life perishes on earth. And I think how they, even as I type this, the Voyager Probes stay on mission and on task. That comforts me for some odd reason.

By this point, the tears stop, and I’ve found a sense of purpose again: leave the world better than I found it. Testify to the goodness of humanity. Resist those who hurt my brothers and sisters. A sense of purpose and mission renewed, I continue the fight.